OSU Track & Field Gears Up For Red Raider Invitational

Friday, January 24

Lubbock, TX

12:00 p.m.

Oklahoma State University

Red Raider Invitational

January 22, 2020 | Cowboy Cross Country & Track, Cowgirl Cross Country & Track

MEET SCHEDULE (ALL TIMES CT)
The Red Raider Invitational will begin Friday morning at 10 a.m., starting with field events. Running events are slated to begin at 11 a.m. The meet will take place at the Texas Tech Sports Performance Center in Lubbock, Texas.

THE FIELD
Air Force
Arizona
Arkansas
Houston
New Mexico Jr. College
South Plains
TCU
Texas State
Incarnate Word
North Texas
UT-Arlington
Texas Tech
Washington State
Western Texas

FOLLOW THE MEET
Fans can follow the action live on Twitter by following @run4okstate for updates. Live results can be found at HERE. Final results will be published on www.okstate.com, along with a recap of OSU's day on the track.

LAST TIME OUT
The OSU track teams are heading to Lubbock, Texas, for the Red Raider Invitational for their third meet of the season. The Pokes combined to bring home four titles at the Arkansas Invitational on January 17. Torrey Hickel won his second straight shot put title, while Juan Diego Castro won his second 1,000m race in a row and All-American Blake Scott took home first place in the pole vault for the Cowboys. Two freshmen Cowgirls flourished in their debuts in orange. Saara Hakanen won the triple jump and Ariadni Adamopoulou broke the indoor pole vault school record.

FROM HEAD COACH DAVE SMITH
On last weekend's meet:
"It was a rust-buster, but we had some great early season performances. I was really impressed with Ariadni Adamopoulou, who broke the school record in her debut as a Cowgirl. I thought the women's sprint group led by Aaliyah Birmingham and Christina Ollison looked very good. The men's middle distance runners led by Juan Diego Castro did a nice job, especially in the 1,000 meters, and we may have found a new 800-meters runner; [Andrew] Cash Merutka. He looked really strong in the 600 meters. Heptathlete Will Edmonds had a good meet and Saara Haakanen was impressive winning the triple jump in her debut."

LAST YEAR AT A GLANCE
The OSU track teams will look to build on last year's success. Last indoor season, the Cowgirl distance medley relay team of Molly Sughroue, Nicolette Dixon, Kaylee Dodd and Sinclaire Johnson finished third place at the NCAA Championships. Other indoor season highlights for the Cowgirls included Johnson's 1,000m title and Sughroue's conference crown in the mile. Jacob Fincham-Dukes ended his Cowboy career as an indoor All-American in the long jump with a school-record setting jump of 7.99m.

COWBOYS & COWGIRLS RELOADED
The OSU track teams return two indoor All-Americans from last season: sophomore Ashton Hicks (400m) and the 400-meter leg of the Cowgirls' third-place, school-record setting Distance Medley Relay, junior Nicolette Dixon. Returning sophomore Isai Rodriguez was the conference runner-up in the 3,000m and 5,000m for the Cowboys a year ago. Hicks set the OSU indoor 400m school record in his freshman campaign when he finished second at the Big 12 Championships with a time of 45.6. Other returning all-conference honorees for the Cowboys include LaKyron Mays (400m, 4x400m relay), Juan Diego Castro (800m, DMR), Garrett Calhoun ( 1,000m), Ryan Smeeton (mile, 3,000m), Victor Shitsama (5,000m) , Ayrton Ledesma Fuentes (5,000m), Blake Scott (pole vault), Mace Metcalf (heptathlon), Sukhi Khosla (DMR), Isaiah Priddey (DMR) and Justin Long (4x400m relay). For the Cowgirls, Aaliyah Birmingham will look to improve her record-setting times from a year ago. Birmingham made a splash in her first season as a Cowgirl, breaking the 60m school record four different times and was Big 12 runner-up in the 60 meters. Taylor Somers is coming fresh off of her first All-American finish in cross country and will look to carry that success onto the track. Somers was all-conference indoors last year in the 3,000m and 5,000m. Sophomore Molly Born also earned her first all-america honors in the fall and will look to build on her all-conference finish in the 5,000m last season. Pentathlon school-record holder Bailey Golden is back, along with four-time indoor All-Big 12 performer Ariane Ballner, who was a member of the Big 12-champ DMR team.